Every year the United Way holds a kick-off breakfast to announce the official goal for its annual fundraising campaign.
But this year organizers decided to serve up something a little different. When the volunteers standing on stage lifted up their placards to reveal this year’s number it wasn’t a dollar amount.
It was people.
The United Way’s Community Campaign goal this year is to raise enough money to change the lives of 61,500 people.
“We’re still telling people what the dollar number is that we need to do that - $17.2 million,” says campaign co-chair Mark Sutcliffe. “But ultimately this campaign is about changing lives. It’s not about raising money. It’s about having an impact.”
The United Way hopes that by focusing on people rather than dollars, donors will gain a better sense of the impact their donations make on people in the community.
Matt Suttie is one of those people. The recent high school graduate with intellectual and physical disabilities just landed his first paying job. He works at Imperial Coffee in Ottawa where he cleans up and does odd jobs. “I’ve been a hard worker and my supervisor was very nice to me and he tells me what to do,” explains Suttie.
His mother Allison adds, “It’s been life-changing for him. He was so excited when he heard he got his first paid job.”
Suttie landed the job with the help of LiveWorkPlay, a member agency of the United Way. His supervisor at Imperial Coffee, Cam Legault, says the placement is a hand up, not a hand-out. “It’s not a charity-driven thing,” says Legault. “It’s not us just donating or, you know, taking whatever he gives us. There’s demands on him to do this amount of work in this amount of time and he’s getting it done.”
For Suttie it represents independence, a chance to make his own way in the world.
For the United Way it’s the kind of success story they hope to write 61,500 more times in the coming year.
